Chapter 38: One Last Time

An Ziqing stopped in midair.

The ground started to crack right underneath her feet, and several specks of flames were already bursting out, but she didn’t seem to avoid it anymore.

“Let’s just end here.” She murmured.

That red ball of light appeared in her palm again.

“Web of Blood!”

Blood dripped from her other hand above like a faucet that wasn’t closed all the way.

Every drop of blood landed on the red ball of light!

That ball of light shined brightly, lighting up the entire valley of Jinluo Mountain like another sun.

Another miniature Sacrifice Formation!

In the depths of the earth, blood rushed to intertwine into a giant web.

No one could see it except for her.

People only saw the power of the Fire Halberd tearing apart the ground, covering it with flames.

Blood-colored light rose to the sky like a meteor shower!

Following them, the Fire Halberd also flew up.

When the Fire Halberd came out of the ground, the blood web also twisted up.

Hundreds of blood strands surrounded the Fire Halberd, some got ripped apart, some got vaporized.

But, every time one was gone, more came straight up.

The flames from the Fire Halberd were scattering everywhere, and the fire crystals were disappearing one by one.

Finally, the Fire Halberd sank back into the river of flames again.

The blood, however, did not stop there. They went after the halberd into the river of flames as well.

Inside the Fire Halberd, a crimson shadow flew out and the flame crystals quickly collected around it, forming a fuzzy figure of Yuan Qiufang’s body.

The sparks were still falling from the sky, but there was no longer blood coming down along with them.

The madness of power that came from Yuan Qiufang no longer existed.

“Yuan Qiufang, you haven’t even reached the Yin God Realm yet.” An Ziqing sneered and said, “Even I, who reached here can not plainly use my Yin God to control a Heavenly Weapon with ease, unless, of course, the weapon’s spirit accepts you.”

“And you.”Suddenly she turned her head to look at Yuan Lianyao. “I advise you to stay where you are.”

Yuan Lianyao stopped her attacking posture and quietly listened to the advice.

“The Fire Halberd is one of the most valued weapons of the Red Devil Sect. All of the weapons at the rank of heaven have a mind of their own.” An Ziqing seemed to be talking to herself. “It is beyond my knowledge why it accepts you, but if it isn’t because of that, I wouldn’t have to use such a complicated formation.”

Now people realized that her weird choice of avoiding the flames of the halberd from underground was, in fact, to set up her formation.

She used the underground tunnels that were dug out previously to her advantage.

When the formation got activated, she was able to make a brilliant turnback.

Fire Halberd was forced out of the ground and returned to where it came from.

“I never thought that despite having so many tunnels destroyed she still can use it.” Yuan Qiufang’s voice came from the river of flames. “I can still sense the blood flowing through under the surface of the valley.”

“And that, I suppose, is where the critical point of the Sacrifice Formation is located.”

“Father!” Yuan Lianyao shouted.

Yu Yuan frowned while staring into the sky, paying attention to what seemed to be Yuan Qiufang’s soul. “Sister Zhao, I’m afraid we have to stop here today. We are so close, but the battle ended too early.”

As soon as the Fire Halberd left the ground and into the river of flames, both of their energies no longer overflowed.

With no excess external energy available from the sparks or the blood droplets, it was almost impossible to fully trap and refine that dragon spirit all at once.

Now they had to start all over again, probably later in a more peaceful setting.

Moreover, An Ziqing had made it clear that she would not leave anything of hers to Zhao Yafu.

“It’s time to end this all!”

Another voice full of hatred came from the other side of the valley.

A voice that everyone was familiar with.

An Ziqing’s brother was back!

The other Yin God!

“My, my…”

Yuan Qiufang’s frightened voice came from the depths of his flames. The Fire Halberd also shook unsteady like a snake in and out.

Above the peak of the Jinluo Mountain…

A man wearing a large red slowly emerged.

The five fingers of his left hand were connected with five bloodlines.

The lines were tied around a person that was lifted in the air.

That person was Yuan Qiufang!

Wasn’t Yuan Qiufang inside the river of flames controlling the Fire Halberd?

How come his body ended up in that Yin God’s hands?

A blank expression covered those who weren’t familiar with advanced cultivation techniques.

Yu Yuan frowned and said nothing.

He knew that he could no longer count on Yuan Qiufang to save the people here. Himself, too, was too weak to even attempt combat.

“Still don’t have enough time. Why do I have to meet such a bastard?” Yu Yuan sighed.

“Father!” Yuan Lianyao called quietly. Her worried eyes looked at Yu Yuan.

She could feel her father’s breaths were getting weaker and weaker, “Yu Yuan, what have you done to him?”

“Don’t blame him.” Yuan Qiufang said helplessly, “If it was not for the pill that he gave me, I would’ve been taken over by this Yin God a long time ago. The pill activated my full potential and allowed me to reach the so-called state of madness.”

“I became a fake Yin God, except the shadow was formed from a mixture of Qi, natural spirit, and my Soul of Earth. It allowed us to possess that unimaginable power.”

“It was only that it ended too soon.”

“After all, it was just a shadow of my Soul of Earth, not a true Yin God.”

“…”

Yuan Qiufang’s voice became softer as he spoke.

The river of flames also shrunk from its original size, then quietly blurring away.

“Brother, let him bring his soul back.” An Ziqing said suddenly.

The messenger from the Divine Blood Sect who was carrying Yuan Qiufang’s body was reluctant to obey his sister’s command. “We are rivals with the Red Devil Sect.”

“Are you telling me that you are scared of an illusionary shadow?”

“Scared? I’m not afraid of that!”, the Yin God humphed.

Swoosh!

A slash of light carrying almost invisible flame runes flowed back into Yuan Qiufang from his head.

Woosh!

Fire Halberd appeared as well.

“Bring it over.”

An Ziqing smiled and gestured with her small hand. “What an unexpected treasure! This will be enough to compensate for the horrendous failure of your advancement when we get back.”

Countless bloodlines entangled the Fire Halberd, making it unable to budge loose.

“Young master, let’s make a deal.”

After finishing all these, she turned to Yu Yuan and said, “I can help you with that dragon spirit and will leave this city’s matter as it is. All I’ll take is you and that Fire Halberd.”

“Deal?”

This was already her second offer.

Last time, she offered to kill everyone in the Huang Clan.

At that time, Yu Yuan felt that he could still rely on Yuan Qiufang in the hope to save this situation.

What about this time?

He seemed to be out of excuses to continue staying here.

An Ziqing even agreed to help Zhao Yafu refine the dragon spirit.

If all goes well, the Zhao Clan might owe him a great favor, perhaps even taking better care of the Yu Clan while he was gone.

“It’s up to you, boy.” Zhao Zhenghao walked out from the Jinluo Mountain, looking tired. “Since they are so sincere, Yu Yuan, why can’t you just go?”

“What about my father?” Yuan Lianyao said.

“He’ll survive.” An Ziqing smiled. “To be honest, this might not be bad after all with your father going through this state.”

“What do you mean?” Yuan Lianyao asked.

“The poison that has tortured him for years has been completely cured.” An Ziqing noticed the change in his attacks. “He just dropped a few more realms again. I’m guessing that he will end up in the Yellow Hall Realm. However, without the disturbance of the poison, he can easily start over again and get back to the Profound Realm in no time.”

Yuan Lianyao was silent for a while and said to Yu Yuan, “The Divine Blood Sect is sure sincere, I won’t stop you from going either. With you being there, Lin Clan and the Cold Shadows Sect won’t dare to bother you or your clan anymore.”

Offering such benefits, Zhao Zhenghao and Yuan Lianyao both took a full turn on their attitude toward the Divine Blood Sect.

Since they stood no chance against An Ziqing, Lady Mayoress and the Zhao Clan had to make the last choice that they could to protect themselves.